Since John McCain chose Sarah Palin as his running mate five weeks ago, many readers who support them complain that The Miami Herald, like ''the media'' in general, have treated Palin unfairly.

''I am not a Republican but I consider Palin's selection a fantastic coup, mainly because the media is full of liberal-minded people,'' said one online reader before Thursday's debate.

South Floridians were able to judge for themselves what they thought of Palin in the debate. But reviewing every Herald item on Palin, from her selection through the debate coverage in Friday's newspaper, her supporters are wrong about the news coverage of Palin in The Miami Herald. Her supporters are right, however, about the paper's opinion columns, where there is a glaring need for a conservative local columnist to balance the many more liberal ones.

News columns are more important and influential than opinion ones because in striving to be objective, they generally seem to be seen by readers as factual, and thus trustworthy, though the distinctions may be eroding. That news coverage, I found, was not just fair to Palin, it was soft. What was written was good. There just wasn't enough of it exploring her governing experience and policies.

This was due in part to the candidate's refusal to give interviews as part of a campaign strategy to freeze out the press. Some newspapers have managed to dig up material anyway despite having little time, but no one knows what more The Herald and others would have found. The McCain-Palin campaign was willing to forgo complimentary articles for fear of critical ones. More than the press, the public suffered as a result.

Palin may have, too. She was dropping in the polls before the debate because of her poor performance in three television interviews. Her inexperience was skewered in what have become avatars of public opinion in South Florida: late-night television, Comedy Central and Saturday Night Live. She was more commanding Thursday night, but more openness might help her combat her image of being unprepared.

Most early polls seemed to judge her the loser Thursday, though the Page 1 debate story in Friday's paper, written by McClatchy correspondent David Lightman, slanted in her favor. The article ran through each issue by giving her view first as the one on the attack, when that was not in fact the case. But Lightman was writing on deadline in the middle of the night, so it would be unfair to make much of his organizing technique. An accompanying analysis by McClatchy's Steven Thomma was admirably dead-on. Thomma wrote that Palin gave a ''sharper performance'' than in her previous interviews, but asked ``will it be enough?''

Of the few earlier news stories that drilled down on her governing background, two by McClatchy reporters stood out.

One showed that, despite McCain's statements and her position as governor, she could claim little experience from commanding the Alaska National Guard.

The other article, certainly reassuring to moderate swing voters, reported that she did not try to impose her conservative religious views on intelligent design, abortion, homosexuality, etc., on the state.

STORY ANGLES

Meanwhile, stories coming out of the convention captured the initial Republican exuberance behind her nomination. ''Move over Obama-mania. Make way for the Palin Effect,'' led a Page 1A story by Miami Herald reporters Marc Caputo and Beth Reinhard.

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